Blessed Mother Theresa....

"And you, you cannot go where we go. You cannot do what we do. But together, we are doing something beautiful for God. And my gratitude to you, President, and your family and to your people. It's my prayer for you that you may grow in holiness to this tender love for the poorest of the poor. But this love begins at home, in your own family, and it begins by praying together. Prayer gives a clean heart, and a clean heart can see God. And if you see God in each other, you will have love, peace, joy together. And works of love are works of peace. And love begins at home."

This quote is from Mother Theresa's humble words of acceptance when she was awarded the Medal Of Freedom by President Regan in 1985, 22 years ago.

To read the wonderful speech President Regan gave to honour this humble and beautiful Mother as well as the rest of her humble response... click here.

To view the website for her cause of canonization... click here.

To join our family in praying the official novena of Blessed Mother Theresa... click HERE. Together we can pray together as a family, the family of God, and together we can continue to grow in Holiness. Whatever day you come across this posting whether it be the first or the ninth day of the novena or even a week after, pray Mother's novena, it is very beautiful and no doubt is very powerful.



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prayer request....

To all my faithful readers:

We have won some most excellent auctions but our sales this month have been exceptionally slow. Would you pray for us that we experience a quick turn around in our sales so that we can pay for these auctions? We are praying and working hard. We simply need a little miracle. If anyone of you would like to have an idea of what type of things we sell, you can check us out on eBay;
out_of_thebox is our eBay id.

We have a lovely website that was built for us by a good friend and we have been trying to build up merchandise on this website as one can typically sell items on individual web sites for a significant amount more than on eBay. Please pray for us that we can generate some successful traffic to this website.

If you do check us out, you will see we have quite a variety of merchandise although typically we have more of the higher end items listed but our good stuff is wanning so it is so important that we can pay for these auctions.

Thank you so much for your prayers.

In response to a readers request that I post a link to our items on eBay I have chosen a few items to give you an idea of the variety of the things we sell.

Clark Headsets

Fujitsu Accessories

And I have NO clue what this is, but my husband does...

Plate Maker

We often sell broadcasting type equipment but have pretty much sold out of that this month. We won quite a bit of this type of merchandise in these auctions and my husband is very excited about it so please do pray for our success over the next few days.

One last item to give you a bit more of an idea of the variety that we sell.

Printer

From any one of these listing you can jump to our eBay store or other items for sale. Have fun exploring! Read more!

too busy to post...

...but one of my sons, who was away for the weekend came home and shared a new discovery he made over the weekend. To see what or who it is, click here!

To listen to an audio clip that I am currently listening to click here.

Thank you Miguel, for sharing your discovery with me.

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What has...

photographer, Paul Tomas been up to lately? Check this out!

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The essentials...

Entering the gates of some Army Bases is very serious business requiring each person to exit the vehicle you are traveling in, while bomb smelling dogs go over the vehicle inch by inch. Typically this will be followed by the inspection of each case that any of the passengers have brought with them. In our case this generally means seven book bags and one diaper bag, assuming I have not packed a bag for my husband and I.

One of our frequent business trips brought us to such a base in Georgia last year and each child obediently crawled out the side door of our 15 passenger van while the young officer dutifully stood to attention, his eyes gradually growing wider as the pile of children by his side grew larger and larger. Finally the 15 year old passed out her 1 year old sister to me before jumping out herself, and the soldier respectfully swallowed back the question I knew he was eager to ask: 'Are all of these yours?'
I answered his silent thoughts with a grin. "Yes, these are all ours, and now may they get back in?"

"Yes, ma'am, as soon as I have inspected their bags!"

Deferentially each child handed him their bag and once it was inspected they hopped back in. Finally we came to the nine year old and his bag. Of all the bags, the contents of this one obviously met the soldier's approval as a grin split his face in half before he zipped it back up and seriously passed it back to my son who nodded and got back into the van.

As we drove away, I was curious as to what might have made the soldiers eyes twinkle like that and I asked Benjamin if I might see what he had brought in his book bag. It seemed curiously light for a three day trip. However inside were what are the obvious essentials for a nine year. A full platoon of soldiers and one bathing suit, size 8. Read more!

while we are at it....

... I thought that I would repost one of my favourite cartoons from the early days of my blog.
Click here to read the original post that went with it.

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'streaking" down memory lane...

Do any of you remember when so many many months ago, (was it really 24?) and Emma and I were in training? With lots of accidents? Well, it has been quite some time now since I have had to praise Emma for ummm, errr, going in the potty and not in her undies.

Well, that time has rolled around again and not only do I not have two puppies, also in training, but Elsa has decided all on her own that it is time for potty 101 to begin. This has meant a lot of "streaking" around the house, as well as countless costume changes. Diapers are lasting about 20 - 30 seconds as we decide to sit on the toilet and try again, and again, and again. Once worn, of course a diaper can not be reused as it is "tinky' or 'distusting' and simply cannot be re-velcrowed back on.

I thought it would be fun to repost the cartoons Anna created to go with the posts about Emma's toilet training. If you prefer, you can also click on the hyper links above and read the old posts as well. And if you would like to hear the hilarious song, The Streak, I have added it to the top of the play list. So sit back, listen to this really funny song from the eighties and look back over the cartoons. And I will go check for fresh puddles, pick up severalarticles of littered clothing, search out the abandoned yet dry diapers and make sure that we have not run out of toilet paper...

So enjoy the streak, err, stroll down memory lane while I figure out what to with myself after nearly 24 years of diaper changing coming to an end... maybe I can take up knitting??? Read more!

Ooops!

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Oh yum, a little potty with your tea, Madam?

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Okay... whose puddle is it this time?

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Have a Teething baby?

Check this out!
Smart Mom Jewlery

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Father Rory Pitstick's Daily retreat....

The Lord is with me???

The deeds of Gideon are recounted in chapters 6-8 of the Book of Judges (it will take less than 5 minutes to read those chapters and thereby gain a much clearer picture of the importance of the incident in today’s first reading). Evidently, life was really tough - Gideon had to beat out wheat secretly in the wine press so the ruthless Mideonites wouldn’t confiscate the little bit of food remaining for his family.
Understandably, then, Gideon is skeptical when an angel appears to him with the greeting, “The Lord is with you!” Like you and me at times, Gideon is tempted to see disaster and the hardships of life as “proof” that the Lord is NOT with him and his family. Nonetheless, the angel’s words have become a reality - the Lord IS with Gideon, and insists, and inspires Gideon to make an act of faith - to prepare an offering (from the tiny store of food remaining to Gideon!), which is convincingly accepted by the Lord. Gideon will go on to seek even clearer signs that the Lord is with him, and the Lord will again give those signs convincingly (see 6:36-40).
What proof is there that the Lord is with you? The evil and tribulations which afflict our lives do not disprove the presence of God - rather, our perseverance in the face of adversity is itself only possible because of the presence of God! Gideon is completely aware of his insignificance - he knows his victories can only be attributed to the presence of God. So rather than resigning himself to being an eternal victim of injustice, Gideon allows himself to become the “champion” God wants to transform him into, a champion who will convincingly sing the Psalm that truly the Lord brings justice and “peace to His people, and to His faithful ones, and to those who put in Him their hope!”
As soon as you and I realize that “for God, ALL things are possible," then we will stop being intimidated by evil, and we will offer all we have (however little and insignificant that might seem!) and allow ourselves to become champions of God’s righteousness!


To read Book of Judges chapter six - eight click here.
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When one is struggling in a similar manner, this is a mouthful to chew on. We have found daily Mass that is early enough that we can attend and still have a an early start to the school/work day. I am very grateful for that. And each day that I meet Jesus in the Eucharist, like Gideon I am asking for a sign, an indication of the direction he wants us to take.

I am about to write my resume for the first time in quite some while and apply for a part time position as an ESL instructor. Starting wage is 18 dollars an hour. I have experience in this area and I am good at it. Please pray that if it is the Lord's will I will receive the job. I am very nervous about it.

To read Father Rory's daily retreats click here. Read more!

doing the same thing over...

and over and expecting a different result is the definition of sanity.

Today I typed 'ipod' over and over and over, trying to make it read as iPod but without remembering to hit the shift key each time I had backspaced before typing p. Over and over and over - and feling puzzled as to why the p would not turn into a P.

Yes, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity - or fatigue, your pick. Read more!

Happy Birthday!

(photo credit Paul Tomas)

It is one of my best friends birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DORRY!!

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Whew...

I have been busy blogging these days as you can see. I will take a break for a day or two now, unless something incredibly funny happens that I simply MUST share with you, or I become aware of a prayer request we need to share. I do have a site I am hoping to share with you that is pro-life so I will be trying to post about that soon. Thanks for the heads up on that Michaela! I hope too to very soon be able to share a project that I have been working on with an author from my beloved homeland, Canada.

In the mean time for the next day or two as I attend to a few things with the business and school that will keep me from the key board, I have a new poll up that I would love to have some input on. The poll reflects that I currently have a music player that launches itself upon opening the blog. My husband wonders if some people find that annoying and I too wonder if some mums settle down to read with a baby nursing who perhaps become distracted by the music so I am contemplating changing the code so that readers can launch the player rather than have it launch itself.

For now I am also changing the songs about and the majority of them are soft songs and the louder ones are lower in the play list. Please so share your opinion so I know how you feel about the player.

God Bless and may you all have a blessed and peaceful Feast Day - the Assumption. BTW, I have been informed by Bethany Rose who was confirmed at her baptism in the Byzantine Rite that as she eventually chose Mary as her confirmation name - this is also HER feast day and she should get to chose dinner. Read more!

Poll Results...

Mummy guilt - looks like we all suffer from it. We had 89 parents participate in the poll and the results are now in!

The largest source of guilt among us is not listening more carefully to that long winded, err rather, that heavily detailed dream. Close on the heels of this source of guilt is the wish to read and cuddle more often at bedtime. And firmly in third place is letting our little kidlets watch too much tv.

Now how easy it would be to ease all of these sources of guilt by making sure that the TV was turned off after dinner and instead of taking in a video or tv show, we all sat around the living room and one of the older members of the family read a chapter each night from a classic story. There are even sources for some of these old books online. Here is one source. A discussion of the story can follow the reading of a chapter or two of your chosen book and then bedtime prayers. Voila - we might not have listened to tales of dreams, but we will have given great fodder to dream upon and wonderful memories for all.

Another fun thing we often do is to listen to the old classic radio shows - via the XM radio in the van. We travel a lot with the business so we felt that having this in the van is a worthwhile expense. We have heard that XM and it's competitor Sirus are combining and an even better rumour is that they will both carry EWTN when they do so.

Now be sure to share with us what story you think your family would most like to read together or any memories you have doing a similar thing as a child. If you are not yet doing something like this and you try - share with us all how it goes. We have done this on and off and writing about this has me eager to do it again. I believe an eye infection on my part left the children hanging with Peter Pan about to face off with Hook. Perhaps that is the story I will start off with again. Read more!

Generous to a fault...

Today Elsa found some nice yummy still fresh in the wrapper gum. Gum that she is not allowed to have. But that did not stop her. She gleefully bite a tiny piece off of one end of the blue stick and offered the rest of it to Gabriela. She placed it carefully in the palm of Lala's hand but when Anna caught a whiff of the peppermint in the air and exclaimed, 'Oh gum, may I have some?' Elsa cheerfully said "Yet!" and took the piece still resting in Gabriela's palm, carefully ripped it in two giving half to Anna and the rest back to Lala.

Yes - Generous to a fault definitely, esp when it is someone else's gum! Read more!

Laundry...

It seems that Danielle and I have something in common beside a large family and mountains of laundry. It is the Flylady AND a share in the universal dislike of actually putting away the laundry.

Gather up laundry - check
Load washer - check
Remember to turn washer on- check
Mover clothes to dryer - check
Help Elsa clean the lint box - Check
Again - remember to turn dryer on - check
Remove fresh, still warm to touch, clothes from dryer - check
Fold, sort and carefully place clothes in the basket to put away, later - Check

What is this universal paranoia about taking clothes out of the baskets and actually placing them in the correct drawers? Not one of my children like to put clothes away either. I have not met many mums either who, while sharing a break and a cuppa coffee, wax eloquently on the number of baskets of clothes actually put away last week! Attacking Mount Washmore - yes, but actualy putting the tamed mountain away - no! And yet - how much time does it actually take to put a load of laundry in its drawers? To see, click here.

So while turning this problem over my mind this Saturday whilst I caught up on two weeks worth of laundry for myself, Hugo and Elsa and put EACH and every load away and also cleaned out and re-arranged Emma's and Bethany's dressers - I hit upon a very Catholic solution. And by Catholic - I do not mean universal. Although it could be. Universal - I mean.

It is not unusual for me in the run of the week to hear of someone else's sufferings; a baby born premature and very ill, some one in a failing marriage, a friend's adult child lost in the world of drugs or just lost to the way of the world. And I cringe thinking 'so many people to pray for and so little time to pray for them'. Yet we Catholics have an established way to pray without sitting and only praying - we have the practice of offering it up.

We will often offer up our day, offer up the Mass, offer up some small sacrifice or offer up some suffering, whether small or great, as a form of continuous prayer through out the day. So why not offer up each load of laundry that we actually put away as a small offering through out the day?

I challenge each of you to add in the comment section how many offerings of laundry you actually sorted and put away in the dresser drawers or hung in the closet. Feel free to share what the intention was or not. But it would be great if you would share whether giving an intention to a particular load of laundry helped to motivate you to complete all the steps of washing a load of laundry - even that dreaded moment of putting the folded & sorted load in those drawers. Read more!

Decided to drop by Danielle's

...before toddling off to bed. I am so glad I did cause it gave me the amazing opportunity to donate a little cash to a great cause. To read more and maybe decide to donate yourself, click here. Read more!

Emma is away...

She has gone to visit her godmother and second oldest sister, Jenny. Also with her is Bethany. Calm, quiet, dependable Bethany who often quietly slides up beside me leaving a tall glass of ice water by my side.

Today, without Emma, there have been no sudden screams of anger from Nathaniel, piercing the air as she teases him. There have been no loud noisy follow the leader games with Elsa and Nathaniel imitating her piercing yells as they see if it really is possible to explode glass with high pitched notes. There has been no dress up strewn about the house as she and Elsa explore how many outfits they can change into within 20 minutes, and forget to put away. There have only been half as many ice cubes in front of the fridge as usual. Even the cat has been quiet.

Today has been quite peaceful and... boring. Read more!